A Place of My Own
by Satine89
Summary: The sequel to Something I Believe In. Dexter is very jealous of Mandark for taking Nora - or is he jealous of Nora for taking Mandark? angst fest Pg-13 for angst, mild violence, and romance, of course...
1. Default Chapter

Prologue of Anguish

Part One of 'A Place of My Own'

_I knew that it would never be, _Dexter McPhearson thought. _I can't believe I was that foolish._

Dexter was in his lab, as usual, tinkering around the massive laboratory, shining and pristine. At the main starboard, Dexter waited for his security cameras to show him images from the sanctity of his lab.

Once again, Dexter's thoughts wandered.

_I will never have a love. _Dexter knew it was true. Now his rival had one-upped him, simply because Nora Debussi was in love with Mandark Astronominov.

Dexter glanced at the screen. Not a thing going on in his lab.

Normally, Dexter would be bustling about, altering his robots or something of the sort. But Dexter was a bit lost in thought.

_And the one I love – the girl I think so dearly of – taken. Gone. All because those two are together._

_I hate them._

Dexter fumed. It was true – he liked Nora and he'd do anything for her. Yet Mandark Astronominov, the worst enemy he'd ever known, had his lovely white lily, Nora.

Dexter sighed, and worked on improving the clarity of his security cameras.

---

"Ah!" Dee-Dee yelled. She stretched out her arms, accidentally whacking Nora in the back of the head.

"Ow," Nora moaned, rubbing the back of her head. Her black hair was soaked, slicked back by water. She had been swimming.

"Sorry," Dee-Dee apologized immediately. "But I love the summertime!"

"Ah yes," Nora grinned. "Pool parties, air conditioning, no school…"

"And you have a boyfriend!" Dee-Dee pointed out. "Everyone knows that summer break is more fun with a boyfriend!"

Nora blushed bright red. "Mandark said he was grounded."

"Why?"

"Conspiracy to commit murder."

"I should have known."

Nora laughed. "He's funny, in a way."

"How is that funny?" Dee-Dee scowled.

"Well I love both Mandark and Dexter – in the platonic sense for Dexter, of course."

Dee-Dee nodded, even though she had no idea what platonic meant. But the thing about her loving both of them made sense. Nora had four main friends, and Dexter was one of them.

"It's so funny! They hate each other, but they're so alike!" Nora giggled.

Dee-Dee sighed. She would never understand Nora. Nora was going out with Mandark, who indeed was a psychopath, and refused the popular life that was most definitely beckoning her. She even rejected Carter Richardson, a soon-to-be eighth grader and most popular guy at school.

"I don't see what's so funny…"

---

Dexter felt something well up inside him. It was anger, jealousy to be very precise. Dexter was jealous of Mandark, for Mandark had taken Nora. Or…

Maybe it was the other way around. Maybe he was jealous of Nora for taking Mandark.

"No. It cannot be," Dexter reassured himself aloud, standing up to go through a filing cabinet. But he stopped dead in the middle of his task.

_Or can it? Can it be true? Am I…_

_No. No, it's not. _

_Is it?_

Dexter continued to flip through the dozens of manila folders inside the cabinet, and then pulled out a file labeled 'Debussi'.

Dexter slapped the folder down on his desk. He opened it gingerly, and revealed before his eyes were pictures, essays, stories, spreadsheets… a lot of different things.

Dexter quickly found what he was looking for – a statistics sheet. He looked it over carefully, seeing the blank spot where he had written BOYFRIEND.

Dexter had hoped for so long that his name would, one day, be written there. With a trembling hand, Dexter reached for a pen.

_If I write his name, I admit defeat._

Dexter uncapped the pen nevertheless, and wrote Mandark's full name on the paper. Dexter grudgingly capped the pen again, and put the statistic sheet back in the folder.

On his way to put the folder back in its rightful place, he stopped again. A thought had struck him.

_"Do you really love him?" Dexter inquired. "I find it rather perplexing that someone like you would like someone like him…"_

_"A bit of advice," Nora responded. "The heart can't be controlled."_

_Dexter drew a blank, but nodded. "All right."_

_I didn't draw a blank, _Dexter thought angrily. _I finally realized that I couldn't have her, and I was stunned speechless by her choice…_

Dexter walked over to the filing cabinet and dropped the manila folder into its slot. Just as he reached to close the cabinet, he stopped again.

_I hate him. He tried to take MY position of resident genius, he tries to destroy my lab daily, and now he takes the girl I love. _

_If I'm the smarter of us, then why do I get the short end of the stick? What does Mandark have that I don't?_

_Okay. He's _way _more morbid than me. But that isn't really a good thing, is it?_

_Maybe he kisses well. Or he's an insufferable romantic around that girl. _

_I wouldn't know._

Dexter shut the filing cabinet closed. He sat down in a chair and kept thinking.

_She made her choice, so why is it so hard for me to accept that? Why do I blame myself? Why did she choose Mandark over me?_

Dexter looked down upon the shining floor. It was white, metallic, cold.

_No use in thinking about her… or him..._

_---_

Nora sank into Dee-Dee's pool. Lee-Lee, Mee-Mee, and Dee-Dee followed her lead.

"It's so nice in here," Nora sighed, letting all her tensions loose. Mee-Mee nodded.

"I love it," Mee-Mee grinned.

Dee-Dee floated around on a beach ball and smiled. "School starts in about three days."

Nora frowned. "Don't remind me."

"We're eighth graders!" Lee-Lee yelled. "And Nora's a seventh grader!"

"Dances!" Dee-Dee smiled.

"No more Teen Issues!" Nora cried happily. She hated Teen Issues. It was too personal.

"So, what are we going to do for three days?" Mee-Mee asked.

An uneasy silence followed.

"Let's just relax," Nora offered.

"Yeah," the other girls chimed as they floated around the pool.

---

Mandark sighed. _Only three more days of freedom…_

He slid a disk out from his computer. It was labeled VIRUS. Clearly something meant for Dexter. Mandark opened a drawer near his computer desk, and dropped the disk inside. It landed with a small thud on top of thousands of other viruses and computer programs.

That drawer was the only one that Mandark didn't organize on a regular basis, partly because he didn't really know what was in it.

For a lark, he stood up and looked in the drawer. There were many discs labeled VIRUS, a few music collections, his past school projects, but what interested Mandark the most was a disc that was not his. He actually had no idea what it was.

Even though Mandark was completely aware of what could happen if he placed the disc inside his computer, he did so anyway.

A window opened on Mandark's computer.

"Hi," smiled a boy. Mandark's eyes narrowed. He knew it.

He hit the disc eject button furiously, and the disc popped out of the drive. Mandark threw it across the room, hitting the wall and scattering parts across his bleak sanctuary of a room.

The window closed. Mandark banged his head onto the computer desk.

"I hate you, Dexter…"

---

Dexter giggled with delight. Any second know, Mandark would place the virus inside his computer, and then his enemy would be terminated…

For some reason, Dexter felt a bit guilty. He shook his head.

_What on earth is wrong with you, Dexter? _He thought angrily. _Once he's gone, you'll be free again! You'll never have to deal with the morose dork again!_

Dexter looked at his outstretched palm. _But is that what I really want?_

Dexter hit his head on the nearest available table. _I can't believe I'm going soft on him! _

_Is it going soft, or… what is it?_

_---_

Last day of summer vacation. Always, it must come, and it is always the biggest drag ever. Nora sighed as she pulled her head off of a pillow on her bed. She had been having a great dream, too.

She got out of bed and ate some toast, moving extremely sluggish. Amelie, Nora's mother, almost asked Nora what was wrong, but thought better of it.

Nora sloshed some water around her mouth, brushing her teeth. She spit the water out and looked at herself in the mirror.

_Last day of summer, the last day of freedom. I get to go back to school, don't I? You've gotta love it._

Nora lowered her eyes. She didn't want to go back to school, but the man that occupied her mind so often would be going back as well.

But that meant Ellen would be back.

Nora sighed and buttoned up her jeans. She hated the last day.

---

Mandark felt his fragile body ache as Olga pushed him into a closet and lock the door behind him, laughing the entire time. His skin was bruised, and his head ached. He didn't waste what little strength he had trying to force the door open.

Instead, he sat inside the closet, just waiting for some mercy, when he felt a razor-sharp pain on his palm. Even in the suffocating darkness, Mandark could see the blood leaking out of his palm and onto the carpet.

Mandark paled considerably, and then looked on the floor. There, on the ground, was a pocketknife. It was stained slightly with Mandark's blood, fresh and vibrant.

_Not the best thing to have in a closet._

Mandark, as much as he reveled in the darkness and such, didn't like the sight of his own blood, so he recoiled.

His soft panting was interrupted by a conversation he heard outside.

"Olga, dear, where is Mandark?"

"I don't know… I think he's in his room."

_Sure you don't know where I am…_

Mandark tried to stand up, but he ran into a box of some sort and hit his head. He moaned, rubbing his head with his non-bloody hand.

He heard the closet door click open, and he sat back down quickly. Olga opened the door, showing Wind Bear and Ocean Bird (Mandark's parents) that Mandark was inside.

"See, he's hiding out in the darkness again," Olga sighed. Mandark looked at the ground. That wasn't true

Ocean Bird was a bit alarmed at the rather large puddle of blood on the ground, which had leaked from Mandark's hand.

"Susan, why is there so much blood on the ground?" Ocean Bird asked him. Mandark's eyes widened, because a) he hated the name Susan and b) he didn't know how to explain it.

"Well, I got thrown into the –"

"He's been cutting himself," Olga lied. Mandark's eyes grew wider, for that wasn't true either. "He's been hiding it from you. I saw him do it three months ago, right before he went to the dance with that girl."  
"There's a girl?" Wind Bear asked. Mandark hung his head. He could see his life ending right there…

"Oh yeah. The girl, she's really popular, but she's so demented. She probably taught him how to cut himself…"

"You're lying," Mandark breathed.

"Hmm?" Olga said.

"I fell in the closet and my hand landed on the knife. It was an accident," Mandark told his parents.

"I think we need to meditate to straighten this out," Ocean Bird suggested.

Mandark groaned. There really was no use.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dexter's Lab.

A/N: This is akin to the Babble Chapter in SIBI-MR. It's just random events, I swear. I hate it when things don't really have a connection, and even though people assure me that the story flows great and it sounds fine, it just drives me nuts.

(Satine twirls pen really nonchalantly, and her sister laughs at her.)

Sister: Hahahaha! You're doing the Boris pen-twirling thing from GoldenEye!

Satine: SHUT UP!


	2. Chapter Two

Insecurities Part Two of 'A Place of My Own' 

School started again. Olga beat up Mandark, Ellen dissed Nora, Dexter and Mandark argued, Natalie whacked them both with a ruler, Dee-Dee started to sing… and that was before any classes even started.

Nora looked incredulously at her schedule. Her first class was clear across the school building. Her face fell.

"What?" Dee-Dee asked, having picked up her brand-new eighth grade schedule.

"My first class is in room 921," Nora whined.

"Dang," Mandark sighed. He wasn't in her first class.

"Why, what's your first class?" Nora asked. Mandark looked at the schedule as he leaned against Nora's locker.

"801," Mandark said.

"Dang," Dexter griped.

"You better not be in my class."

"I am."

"This stinks. I want a transfer."

"You won't get a transfer if I get one first!"

Nora sighed. School was still the same old, same old.

Dexter was working silently on his science work when a thought struck him.

_Is the reason I've hated Mandark for so long because I love him?_

Dexter continued to work, acting like nothing was wrong, as he deciphered the periodic table.

_Isn't that what happens so often? Two people hate each other so intensely that they begin to fall in love… it's so common nowadays._

Dexter could tell that Mandark was trying to finish before him. It was just a rivalry to him. Dexter was a bug to be squashed, a game to be won. Dexter was sure of it, and his heart sank.

Dexter was almost done with his work.

_And now that I finally realize that I love him, he has another… Nora Debussi, the girl I thought I loved…_

_Heh. She's no threat._

A cell phone went off. Ellen Rourke smirked and answered it, before the teacher wretched it out of her hands. Dexter smiled evilly.

_Ellen Rourke. Of course she'd know how to get rid of Nora… _

_But she hates me. So much for that…_

Mandark looked up from his work. He could've sworn he'd heard someone snicker. He whirled his head towards Dexter. He was calmly working. He looked to Ellen. She was crying, having had her pink high-tech cell phone taken away.

Mandark shrugged to himself, working on his work and thinking about Nora… and rubbing a bruise on his arm that Olga had given him.

Nora and Mandark had their next class, English, together. But Dexter was in that class, too.

The two of them sat next to each other, but they were calm… not at all like they were during passing periods or anything. Dexter found this just a bit curious.

_If they're so in love with each other, then why aren't they even acknowledging the other's presence? _Dexter thought. _If they like each other so much, why aren't they talking?_

_Is it because Mandark, in fact, doesn't like her? Or is it that Nora's just using Mandark? Or is it because they don't want to get yelled at?_

Dexter blanked out. _Yeah. They probably don't want to get yelled at._

Dexter still watched them out of the corner of his eye, and saw, at one point, Nora turning to Mandark and saying something. Mandark nodded and said something else.

_Hah! They're probably planning something really nasty!  
_Mandark handed Nora a pencil sharpener.

_Sheez… what is with these people? Do they EVER drop clues??_

Dexter went back to his work, but he still kept a constant watch on the two. The bell rang and Dexter quickly packed up his stuff and left the class for nutrition.

Mandark breathed a sigh of relief, and then turned to Nora. "What was up with Dexter this period?"

Nora stuffed a notebook into her black hole of a backpack. "I didn't notice anything."

"He was watching us for the entire period," Mandark complained.

"He was not," Nora retorted. "Don't go crazy on me."

"I'm not going crazy," Mandark sighed.

"Yes you are," Ellen said from across the room. Nora got a bit mad.

"Can't you bug someone else?!" Nora yelled.

"Oh, sorry," Ellen answered sarcastically, pulling her backpack over her shoulder and walking out of the classroom haughtily.

Nora put her own backpack on, and then looked to Mandark. "We can't stay in the classroom forever."

"Maybe we can…" Mandark countered suggestively.

Nora blushed. "We'd get in trouble. What if the teacher came back in here?"

"I guess so," Mandark shrugged. He held Nora's hand as they left the classroom.

"But I still think he was looking at us."

"Why would he watch us all period, though?" Nora asked Mandark, trying very hard to suppress her glee. Mandark was holding her hand, so she was happy. Really happy.

"Who knows?" Mandark responded. "He's a nutcase."

"He's my friend though. Do you think something's wrong?"

The corner of Mandark's mouth began to twitch. He didn't say anything else. Mandark let go of Nora's hand, and walked toward his locker. Nora followed him, a bit worried about why he was acting so hostile.

Mandark opened his locker with a click. He pushed a binder into it, all the while looking at Nora out of the corner of his eye. She looked a bit frightened. Mandark sighed.

"Look," Mandark said, "I just have to stay on my toes with that boy. He wants me dead."

"I think it's you that wants him dead," Nora countered. Mandark dropped his head. Nora was right. Maybe she was right about Dexter staring at him…

Nora put her hand on Mandark's shoulder. She was looking at Mandark's palm. It had been scratched open by the knife just the day before. It was scabbing, and it didn't look all that great. Nora looked to Mandark again.

"What's that?" Nora asked in a worried tone.

"Nothing," Mandark lied.

"You didn't cut yourself… on purpose, did you?"

"It was an accident."

"Really?"

"Really."

Nora looked at the congealed mess that was Mandark's left hand. "Were you okay?"

"I'm fine," Mandark smirked. "Don't get so worked up over it, Nora. I'll be fine."

"You better be," Nora huffed as Mandark shut his locker. "If anything happens to you, what'll happen to me?"

Mandark smirked as Nora followed him down the hallway. The school year was getting off to an interesting start.

PE. How Nora loathed it. She spat on the ground as she waited for her PE teacher to show up. Only half the class was dressed, anyway. Unfortunately, Ellen Rourke was in this class, and so were her lackeys. All beautiful, all shrewd, and all of them were brats. But on the upside, Natalie Faye was in the class with Nora.

Natalie brushed a strand of brown hair aside. "PE. Gotta hate it."

"You hate PE?" Nora asked incredulously. "But you're the fastest runner I've ever met!"

"Ah. I used to be in track. No big deal," Natalie shrugged. "Hey, Mandark's coming."

Mandark walked over to Natalie and Nora's group. The three of them began talking, and Ellen took notice.

"I hate those three," Ellen sneered. "Mandark and Nora… they're like Nick and Jessica. They're super popular… the It Couple… and they're just a couple of dorks…"

A girl with black cornrows and Asian features nodded. "What's so bad about those two?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot. You're new here, aren't you, Talitha?" Ellen asked snidely. "Mandark Astronominov and Nora Debussi. Nora was new here last year, and she became really popular really fast. She's a billionaire, and a freak, on top of that. Mandark is a demented genius. He likes the darkness and all that crap. They were officially together at the school wide formal dance last year, when my ex, Carter Richardson, caught them kissing during a slow dance… and that's it."

Talitha stared longingly at the small group of three, which became four when a girl with blonde pigtails joined them. She looked like she was an eighth grader, the elite. Talitha had seen her with her own lunchroom table for her friends – which meant ultimate social status. If those two were really dorks, then why was an eighth grader that influential with them?

"Talitha!" Ellen yelled. "Get your head out of the clouds for a second!"

"Sorry," Talitha bowed. Ellen rolled her eyes.

"Don't think that they're all that," Ellen sneered. "Because the whole lot of them are backstabbing traitors."

"Traitors?" Talitha repeated.

"Yeah. Nora refused to date one of the most popular boys in school, Natalie joined her little crusade, Dee-Dee helped her rise to power, and Mandark… he's stranger than strange. So don't mess with them."

Talitha sighed and looked at the group. They seemed happy, unlike her. Ellen put down everyone, telling a lot of stories – with the help of her cronies – about their unsurpassed weirdness and their faithless ways. But Talitha didn't want to believe Ellen.

She sighed and followed Ellen's group, her cornrows bobbing with her movement.

Dexter stared at his computer screen. It was after school, Dexter's homework was done, and he couldn't figure out why he was so enamored with Mandark.

He was watching his security cameras closely. Nothing moved inside his sanctuary. Everything was pristine; everything was perfect – except for Dexter himself.

_Why? _Dexter thought worriedly. _Why is this happening? No matter how hard I try, the only thing I think about is him… Mandark! WHY? I don't understand!_

Dexter banged his fist on the table. He didn't quite understand anything now. He took off his glasses and wiped them off, still thinking.

_Maybe I should just accept it…_

Dexter heard the doorbell, and Nora's voice as the door clicked open. He narrowed his eyes.

_This is all her fault, _Dexter thought. _All of this – if she had never come here, I'd be fine! That crazy genius is ruining my life!_

Dexter made sure that his laboratory was locked up tight. He didn't want anyone – particularly Nora – to violate his refuge.

Dexter returned to his main computer. Nothing stirred, as before. Dexter, sometimes, used to feel lonely when he was holed up in his lab – not today. Today he was just desperate and confused… not a good combination. A maniacal glint had formed in his eyes, and his mouth twisted into an evil smirk – a smirk that, even if he didn't realize it, he had seen before on another person.

Dexter was now in a completely different mindset. He ran from experiment to experiment, zealously checking on them and taking notes… he was plotting something.

Meanwhile, Nora sighed as she lay down on Dee-Dee's bed.

"What's up with you?" Dee-Dee asked her. Nora closed her eyes.

"It's… Dexter and Mandark. They both hate each other, but they're both my friends… and I have an idea as to why…" Nora trailed off.

Dee-Dee blinked. "They hated each other way before you came along."

"But… what if they both… you know… like me?" Nora thought.

Nora had no idea that she was a bit more on the dot than she thought.

"I doubt it," Dee-Dee smiled. "You and Mandark are like… meant to be, I guess. Even Dexter could see that… probably…"

Nora grinned slightly.

_Dee-Dee's right, _Nora reasoned. _Why worry about unimportant things?_

Little did those two know that this was very, very important indeed.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dexter's Lab.

A/N: This took forever to write… sorry, Vindaloo… (sweat drops) Oh well! I have no idea what to do for the next chapter, so… I'm winging it!


End file.
